Forward-facing sections of commercial aircraft are vulnerable to bird strikes. These forward-facing sections include the aircraft nose.
A bird strike is a high energy impact. Consider a bird weighing 4 pounds. If that bird directly strikes a plane traveling at 500 mph, the resulting impact load will be very large, in the neighborhood of 60,000 lbs (60 kips).
Current practice is to make the nose section stiff and “bulletproof” in order to withstand these very large impact loads. Frames and stiffeners are made heavier and stiffer. However, these heavier structures add weight to an aircraft, which increases fuel costs and other costs of operating the aircraft.
Moreover, these heavier, stiffer composite structures can shatter and delaminate upon impact. Repair can be expensive, both in cost of the repair and downtime of the aircraft.
FAA Federal Aviation Regulations prescribes airworthiness standards for aircraft, including standards regarding bird strike events. The current practice of making frames heavier and stiffer will be even less desirable if future FAA regulations become more stringent with respect to bird strike events.